Richards: Tevez in the wrong

02 October 2011 10:46

Micah Richards has become the first Manchester City player to publicly criticise Carlos Tevez, and says "lessons must be learnt" from the saga.

The Tevez saga has engulfed City after it emerged the Argentine refused to come off the substitutes bench against Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

Whilst Tevez himself has tried to deny he refused Roberto Mancini's instruction, the club have suspended him and not made any further statements on the issue whilst they conclude an internal investigation.

Mancini said after the match that Tevez was 'finished' as far as he was concerned and now Richards has emerged to criticise his team-mate for his actions in Germany.

"Carlos' reaction in Munich was wrong. It was something he shouldn't have done," Richards told The People.

"There was always going to be a bit of tension because Carlos is a top player and hasn't been getting in the team. But there was no sign that he was going to do what he did.

"I like Carlos. He's probably still the best player that I have played with and I'll always be grateful he came to City and helped us achieve what we did last season.

"He's been our best player for the last couple of years and won't be happy the manager has been picking other strikers ahead of him.

"But we are a top team now. We can't just be about one or two players because if you want to challenge for the big trophies it has to be about the strength of your squad.

"There's a lesson for us to learn here. If we want to be a top team then as individuals we have to sacrifice ourselves. I went through it myself. I might not be a big name like Carlos Tevez but I am an England international and I thought I should be playing in every game.

"You do get emotional. Your pride does hurt. I found it hard when I wasn't in the team and at times I did struggle to just keep my head down and say nothing.

"I've been rotating with Pablo Zabaleta. At left-back it's been Kolarov and Clichy. It's the same with the midfielders and the forwards.

"Aguero and Dzeko have been on fire this season and when Balotelli came on last week against Everton he scored an important goal.

"I thought Carlos was just waiting for his chance to show what he could do.

"You're never happy if you aren't playing, but we've got a big squad and we've all just got to use it."

City captain Vincent Kompnay also insisted that the Tevez saga has not affected the squad.

"No doubt people will be expecting Manchester City to fall apart after what happened in Munich, but that isn't going to happen," said Kompany.

"Every team will lose games and have setbacks, but there won't be many games more difficult than Bayern away.

"Okay, so some things have happened that aren't good, but people should just calm down a little bit.

"We will bounce back very quickly. I can't give any answer about Carlos Tevez because I don't know what was going through his mind and I don't know what happened because I was on the pitch.

"I have been here three years and I know there are people out there who want us to fail.

"But I don't care. All the other players don't care. What outsiders think about our club means nothing to us.

"The negative things people say about us bring us closer together as a team. The only people we care about are the fans, players and people of Manchester City.

"As captain I can tell you there is no problems between the players.

"We have a great group, a strong group. The atmosphere has been good this season.

"We will have our disappointments along the way, but we will learn from them and we will get stronger."